As human beings, we often do not know what is good for us until well after the fact. Like that shopping spree last Saturday at the mall. Or those two extra cookies that probably shouldn’t have been eaten at snack time. (Oh, yes, I am my father’s son.) Or watching that NCIS marathon post-Christmas week. Or getting sucked into a universe that has been well-hyped and finally figuring out that what you spent so much of your life sucked into is, well, pond scum. Whenever I think of something like this, I cannot help but think of The Da Vinci Code. I admit I’ll probably get some flack for this, but it was a horrid book. And the main problem was that the author Dan Brown could not technically pull it off — he can’t write. But somehow thousands got sucked into it, and it somehow made the bestseller list due to plot alone. And then there were people/groups that suddenly became inspired by it and tried to coast on Brown’s success. One of those things is a game known as The Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual. It is not a bad game, but it definitely could have been so much more.
The Scorpio Ritual is about budding archeologist Sylvie Leroux who was writing her master’s degree dissertation when her uncle calls her. Apparently, he made some sort of discovery that would help her. So she rushes out of her apartment and flies to her uncle’s estate on an island off the coast of France. But when she arrives, her uncle, obviously, is no where to be seen. And the great discovery that he made has been stolen. So the police suspect her uncle is on the run, and now it is up to Sylvie to prove otherwise. And along the way, she’ll encounter a plot that might bring forth an apocalypse by Knights Templar and the Vatican. If this sounds a bit like The Da Vinci Code, you are right. Except this one held my attention for a while longer.
Gameplay wise, this is a traditional point-and-click adventure game. And for the most part, it is of the usual variety of cold hard logic being used. Yet, it takes a while to get used to the game’s logic. For example, an early puzzle has you trying to get a dead fish out of the water. So in order to do so, you need to fix the broken net you found. But in order to do that, you need to remove the rose of the watering can (who knew that the thingy at the spout is called the “rose”). Yet before you do anything, you need to right-click on the watering can and then left-click on the actual picture to get the rose. Wouldn’t combining the two items ordinarily be enough, or is it just me? And then there’s another puzzle that has you timing things — like dropping a rock on the ground so the floor will stop moving. Or another one that still has me scratching my head about getting the pillars in order at Gozo (an archeology site a few hours away from Sylvie’s uncle’s home). But by far the greatest addition is the question mark function. This quick-click icon REMOVES pixel hunting by highlighting all places and items of interest with a question mark that quickly fades away. So clicking on it a few times will allow any adventure gamer of any skill level to make certain all items of interest have been approached.
Graphically, the game is great to look at for hours. The game is just full of little details that help bring the it together. Water swirls and flows around in the background. Characters move around the screen smoothly. They gesture. And yet, they are the same gestures that you’ll be seeing over and over again. Sylvie gestures even as she talks to herself; the old sailor never looks and points his hand at his parrot. Worse, the in-game movies run sluggishly on my computer, and the audio runs ahead of it. (For the record, my computer meets and exceeds the game’s requirements.) I have e-mailed City Interactive’s tech support for a solution to this problem. But as of this writing, there has been no response to solve this issue. And in a way, it can be game breaking for some because it shows a lack of polish in what can be considered a very beautiful game.
Sound wise, the game is rather solid. Music is a nice little bit of ambiance. But if you listen to the television while playing, you are not really missing out. However, the main lure is the solid voice acting. The woman who portrays Sylvie does a wonderful job of pushing the game forward. And the same could be said for the rest of the voice acting staff. Yet it is not all smooth sailing as there are moments of awkward dialogue performed due to the writing of the script. For example, there is the time Sylvie and James, a linguist, meet. Other times the subtitles and the dialogue do not match. Sometimes for the better, while other times for the worse.
And it is at this time while I was playing that it dawned on me. Perhaps the problem with the adventure genre isn’t the fact that most of the games are made by one company: It is our perceptions of what an adventure game should or ought to be. Parsimony is something many games, especially adventure games try to attain and maintain. Sure, what good is a puzzle if you don’t have to work for it? It’s rewarding to do so. But should I, or any other adventuring novice, be sitting in front of a computer for 15 minutes wondering how to solve a puzzle? Or trying to find everything necessary to move forward? OK. Enough philosophy of gameplay, or we’ll be here all night.
Bottom line, Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual is a solid adventure game. It is warm and accessible to the average player. The game is great to look at, pixel hunting is abolished (provided you remember to hit that certain icon), and the plot is rather interesting. The problem is that it feels like we’ve traversed this area before, and it is not as well-done as previous attempts by other developers. Also, a walkthrough is going to be required for the novice at times due to the game’s logic. Ultimately, I do not expect everyone to enjoy this game because it is much more a niche game than its adventure cousin Time Hollow. However, I can imagine diehard adventure fans becoming rather content with it. Check out the official Web site, watch the videos and stare at the screenshots. If this game interests you, try it. There are definitely worse ways to spend your time.
